Exchange Rate

Exchange Rate ran a big race to get with within a head of Brazos in the 1m 6f handicap.  Never far off the pace, Willie Mullins’ horse travelled well into the straight just behind the leaders through the early stages of the race.  He picked up well at the 2f marker, and he stayed on well from the 1f marker to close on Brazos, just failing to catch John Joe Murphy’s horse.

Winner of a bumper, a novice hurdle and a maiden on the flat over 12f, this was the Monsun horse’s first run since he finished a close-up third in a novices’ hurdle at the Galway Festival.  He is six years old, but this was just his second run on the flat and just his sixth run under all codes, and he has lots of scope to progress.  The handicapper raised him by 4lb to a flat mark of 90, but he has the potential to progress beyond that mark. He holds an entry in the 1m 4f handicap at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend, and he will be of interest if he takes his chance in that race, a race that his trainer has won twice in the last five years.

Killarney, 23^rd August 2018